Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo condemns Twitter 'cowards' after Mikel is forced off social site by abuse

Roberto Di Matteo today accused John Obi Mikel's Twitter trolls of hiding
behind their keyboards as he condemned the racist abuse of the midfielder.

2:38PM BST 21 Sep 2012

Chelsea last night contacted the police over two ''totally unacceptable, disgusting and abhorrent'' posts directed at Nigeria star Mikel following Wednesday's Champions League draw with Juventus.

The abuse occurred at around the same time Mikel deleted his Twitter account, although Chelsea insisted the 25-year-old had not been aware of it and had been intending to leave the social media site in any event.

Manager Di Matteo said today: ''His intention was to close the account anyway. So it was a good reason to close it.

''The social media world, especially Twitter – because it's anonymous and so on – it's a dangerous vehicle to express yourself.

''I don't think it's fair. If somebody has to express his opinion, he should put his face to it.''